…acting on knowledge, communication and learning

The following is the introduction to an article that I wrote, published in the November/December KM Review.

Despite everything that the modern KM practitioner knows about communities, collaboration and technology, communities of practice (CoPs) often fail and collaboration often breaks down. In order to establish an effective CoP, it’s necessary first to think about the nature and structure of a community and recognize that it’s an entirely different entity from a work group or a project team. As such, it must be treated differently, too. In this article, author Keith De La Rue examines the pitfalls associated with CoPs and why helping them to grow and flourish requires a better understanding of three words: “community”, “practice” and “technology”.

4 Responses to “The theory and practice of communities”

[...] I have read about a bazillion articles and blog posts recently (my favourites have been, this great video from Patrick Lambe, this article from Keith De La Rue, lots of bits and pieces from Richard Millington’s blog and some stuff from the Ant’s Eye View team) the collective wisdom (mixed in with my own experiences) seems to suggest that there are a few ingredients that any community will need to succeed: [...]